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NMA / Heartbeat
Client
National Museum of Australia
Timeline
6 Months
Date
May 12, 2022
Exhibitions
Heartbeat is an immersive audio-visual installation featured in the Great Southern Land exhibition at the National Museum of Australia. Layered illustrations, lighting, and ambient soundscapes engage viewers in a captivating exploration of the flora and fauna found throughout Australia's diverse ecosystems.
The Opportunity
The National Museum of Australia engaged Artikel Design to support the design development and realisation of the Heartbeat installation.
Heartbeat is comprised of illustrative watercolour work by Australian Artist Matt Chun, which is elevated using display techniques involving space, colour and lighting. This project saw Artikel working closely with Chun and the NMA project team in the preparation and treatment of 15 illustrative scenes and later working with suppliers to support the transition from developmental design phases into final production.
The project outcome required a balanced and collaborative design approach to retain the subtle artistry of Chun’s illustrations while translating them into an immersive experience using lighting techniques inspired by Carnovsky’s RGB project.
The Outcome
Heartbeat offers a unique installation experience where audiences are encompassed by five curved fans featuring vivid illustrations of flora and fauna found across five distinct environmental zones in Australia: Arid, Alpine, Tropical, Temperate land and sea.
The illustrations are transformed from static images into dynamic sequences using rigs of coloured lighting that morph the rich compositions into distinct layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow.
The Experience
The heartbeat audio visual experience reveals regional differences in plants and animals using colour, layer and light. The resulting effects are unexpected and exciting as within the shifting sensory landscape, images emerge and dissolve alongside the changing colours of lighting.
The morphing effect afforded by the technical execution of the installation represents the seasonal changes of the Australian ecosystem, while elevating the depicted imagery into a mesmerising sequence that engages viewers with the saturated colour and rich compositional surface.
The iconic wildlife depicted, such as magpies or brumbies, are additionally accompanied by audio sourced from across Australia. This feature, alongside the large scale of the illustrations, works to immerse visitors in the installation, engrossing them in an imaginative and unique interpretation of Australian environments.
Conclusion
Artikel’s contribution to the installation's development while collaborating with the artist, curators and technical teams, helped bridge the concept and execution phases of the project. This ensured that the installation’s innovative audio-visual experience was seamlessly executed and emotionally resonant. The resulting installation heightens audiences' interactions with illustrative artworks while broadening their understanding of classic Australian wildlife.
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